


Skin Deep

by Lucyeris



Category: Shrek (Movies), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Prince Keith (Voltron), Thief Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 12:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucyeris/pseuds/Lucyeris
Summary: Lance is an Altean living in the middle of the Enchanted Forest without a care in the world. It was just him and his tree. Until he runs into a Balmeran named Hunk being taken to Lord Zarkon, a cruel tyrant trying to take over the Enchanted Forest. Lance decides that the only way to save his home is to make an agreement with the Lord.However, this agreement comes at a cost. All he has to do is travel through the Dark Forest, find a castle guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, sneak past the dragon to save the prince and then bring the Prince back to Lord Zarkon before the month is up.What could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time, deep within the enchanted forest there lived a boy, barely 18, he is the last of his kind. An Altean. Creatures hunted to near extinction decades ago, magical beast in a human-like form with unimaginable powers. Dangerous monsters which were a threat to humanity. But this boy left without a family for so long knew nothing of this potential within himself; he survived and made his way in the world through trickery, deception and theft.

  
The boy, Lance, hid away within the hollow of a great oak which he had crafted into a home. He dug rooms under the tree supported by the far-reaching roots. The rooms were kept light through candles which never burned out and the bed was made from soft warm furs piled into a corner.

  
Within the room, he also kept his collections of books stolen from the library in the small human village on the outskirts of the enchanted forest. Lance wouldn’t admit it, but he was fascinated by the human stories, by the characters, by the adventures and romances within the fairy tales. By the idea of a happily ever after.

  
But, Happily Ever Afters are made for knights and heroes and princes, not for the monsters and thieves living within the forest.

  
Or are they?

 

~~~

 

Lance was perched on a high branch of his tree, basking in the sunlight and rereading his favourite book, the one where the princess with golden hair was kept locked in a tower by a wicked witch and her prince would climb her hair every day just to see her. It was a simple read, but every time it made his heart flutter when the prince and princess would embrace and get their happy ending.

  
He was about to reach the part where the wicked witch discovered the prince when Lance heard a loud cry in the distance. He dropped the book, grabbed his bow and arrows and ran to where he heard the cries. He found the dirt road that carriages of humans would often travel on and followed it until he came across a group of soldiers guarding a wagon pulled by horses. Within the wagon, there was a Balmeran man wrapped in chains, his face red with tears.

  
Lance snuck up on the group and jumped onto the roof of the wagon, gaining the attention of the guards,

  
“Good morning, if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking over your wagon now.” The guards looked at Lance in shock, of course, they’d heard of the Altean roaming the forest through reports of villagers, but they’d never seen one before. The four men shook, but one stepped forward.

  
“This Balmeran is being taken in the name of Lord Zarkon, anyone who intervenes will also be taken for execution.” That piqued Lance’s interest, no Lords ever really sent soldiers within the forest, sometimes they’d send scouts but they rarely interacted with the creatures within.

  
“Really, well as much as I hate to interfere with Lord Zarkon’s plans, I’m really bored, and you’re the only prey that’s walked through all week. Now…” Lance took out his arrow and aimed at the leader, “I’ll be needing those keys,” The man shook but he still drew his sword,

  
“I will not submit to you villain,” Lance smirked at the man’s brave nobility. As the young guard moved to attack the arrow was loosed and hit his knee, shattering it. The man cried and Lance leapt off the wagon, crapped his keys and then turned to the others.

  
“You’d best take him to a doctor. Unless you also wish to find yourselves with broken bones.” The others were shaking and hiding behind one another, the smallest of the three had vomited up his breakfast. Lance turned to face them and sneered, “Now! before I change my mind.” The men scattered, collecting their leader and hurrying down the road. Lance freed the Balmeran and sat him down, rubbing his back until he stopped crying. “Are you okay?”

  
“Yeah, thanks for saving me,” He looks up and is briefly shocked to see Lance’s glowing Altean markings on his cheeks, “You’re an Altean? I thought they were gone.”

  
“Yeah, well I’m the only one I know.” there was a heavy silence as neither knew how to respond. “So… why were those guards taking you to this Lord Zarkon guy?”

  
The Balmeran’s head fell, “Lord Zarkon has been clearing out the enchanted forest, taking over the land, cutting down the trees and imprisoning the creatures. He took my clan, but I got away, at least, briefly before they found me yesterday.”

  
“Do you know if he’s planning to take the rest of the forest?” Lance thought of his old tree being cut down by some selfish Lord and was instantly furious.

  
“From what I’ve heard from the guards, he plans on taking over the whole enchanted forest.” The Balmeran's voice shook, his yellow eyes filling with tears again and his clawed hands clenching. “Is there anything you can do? You’re an Altean, surely you can help us.” Lance shook his head, uncertain he’d be able to amount to such a task. But then he thought about the fairy tales he read, about the prince tasked with an impossible quest in order to find his happily ever after. He may never be destined for true love as the only Altean alive, but he could at least save his home.

  
“Of course,” He stood, pulling the Balmeran up with him. “Point me in the direction of this Lord Zarkon’s Castle.”

  
“Wait, let me go with you...please, I have to save my family.”

  
“Sure, I’d love some company, what’s your name?

  
“Hunk, and yours?”

  
“Lance, right let's get going so we can make it to this castle before nightfall.”

 

~~~

 

“Well, I must say that’s exactly the sort of castle I’d imagine an evil dictator having,” Lance commented as he looked up at the dark building with tall thin towers, small windows, an ominous aura of dread and a very worrying smell of vomit and blood.

  
“How are we going to get in?” Lance didn’t even get a second to think before he hurt the rambunctious singing of knights in colourful armour riding on horseback straight to the castle.

  
“I have a brilliant idea.” Hunk looked at the knights and then back at Lance,

  
“Okay, I don’t know you that well, but I can already tell that your brilliant idea is probably stupid.”

  
“No, trust me.” Lance lifted his hood so his Altean features were hidden and ran up to the knights. “Excuse me, sirs.” One of the knights turned to face him while the other knights entered the palace.

  
“How may I help you civilian?”

  
“I was wondering what the knights were gathering for?”

  
“Lord Zarkon has summoned all knights across the land for a tournament to win a quest.”

  
“That’s very nice sir, but I’m not actually interested, I need to borrow your armour.”

  
“What?” Lance removed his hood and before the knight could call for help he was knocked out and within the minute Lance was in his armour, even though it was a little big for him it hid him well enough.

  
“Hunk, wear this.” He threw his cloak to him and the two leisurely strolled into the palace, no one batting an eye at the knight and his cloaked assistant. The two stayed close to the wall and out of the way so no one would see Hunk’s distinctly non-human facial features Within the palace people were walking and chatting, eager to see the tournament. “I wonder what the quest is?” was the question regularly heard between the people.

  
“Okay, so we’re in the castle. What now?” Hunk sighed,

  
“To be honest, I didn’t plan that far.” Hunk was about to respond when a hand suddenly grabbed him.

  
“All knights to the court, the tournament is about to start.” oh, right, the tournament, Lance really didn’t think this through very well. The man left and Hunk turned to Lance.

  
“What are we gonna do?”

  
“I guess I’m competing in the tournament.”

  
“We’re so dead.”

 

~~~

 

In all fairness, everything would have been fine if it wasn’t for the fact that the armour was so heavy and clunky it caused Lance to trip during the pre-tournament speech, his helmet fell off revealing his pointed ears, glowing face and white hair. The entire stadium gasped and whispered at the reveal of the Altean.

  
Lord Zarkon, a truly terrifying man, tall with fiery eyes that ooze with disdain for the ‘beast’ in his castle. He raised his head and pointed a gloved hand toward Lance, “Well, change of plans, the first one to kill the Altean and bring me his head will be named the champion and be given a quest, a chance to win immense favour and fortune. Let the game begin.”

  
The men charged and Lance sprang out of their reach, shredding the armour off to give him more flexibility and throwing the pieces with supernatural force at their heads. Two of the ten men fell unconscious and Lance ran to the table of weapons and chose a lightweight staff for his combat. Lance smirked at the looks of confusion on the Knights' faces at his weapon choice, Lance swung at the smallest opponents, knocking them off balance. Lance grabbed 5 knives from the table and ran before the knights cornered him.

  
One of the larger knights, a hulk of a man with brought shoulders and scarred face charged for Lance ahead of the others, smashing through the obstacles laid out for the tournament. Lance threw a knife into the beastly man’s neck with pinpoint accuracy. He fell to the ground and bleed out. The whole crowd fell silent for a moment before another opponent stepped forward.

  
“You demon, I will slay you.” 

  
“Hey, that’s very rude,” Lance snarked as he dodged the sword viciously slicing for him. But as he backed away from a strike aimed at his head he tripped and fell onto his backside. Groaning in pain he looked up to see Mr Very Rude stood above him, blade pointed at his heart.

  
“Surrender now, you foul beast.” Lance clenched his fists in the sand, he looked up at the knight and chucked the sand into his eyes. He cried out, dropping his blade to rub the dust away. Lance grabbed the blade, turned it around and ran it through his heart.

  
“You noble types take things way too seriously around here.” Lance pulled the blade out and let the man fall at his feet. He turned to his last three opponents, each focussed on the blood-stained sword in his hand. “Who’s next?” He said raising his knife for another throw. They looked at each, then at the corpses of the clearly superior fighters and the other even the previously bloodthirsty crowd was quiet. They each fell to their knees and surrender.

  
Lance turned to face Lord Zarkon, who sat in his throne seemingly unsurprised by this turn of events. He looked into Lance’s eyes and clicked his fingers. Suddenly hundreds of men for the stadium aimed their crossbows at him, so many that even Lance’s superior reflexes couldn’t help him escape. Zarkon grinned at the wide-eyed fear on Lance’s face,

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it would appear we have an unlikely champion. Guards, bring him…” He turned to the exact spot hunk had been quietly watching the fight, “and his Balmerian friend to the throne room so we can discuss his quest… that is should he choose to accept it.” He looked back at Lance. Zarkon had this glint in his eyes, he knew Lance was in no position to refuse, and he was so desperate for the Lord’s favour that he would probably do anything right now.

  
“I accept your quest Lord Zarkon.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Lance and Hunk were guided through many large halls, the castle was cold but at least it was decadent, covered with large portraits of Zarkon and previous Lords. The guards leading them still had their crossbows point at their backs and neither Hunk nor Lance dared utter a word to each other in case the humans shot them. They reached the end of the hall and stood before a large double door which required the full strength of the doormen to heave it open.

In the throne room sat Lord Zarkon on his throne perfectly still and unmoving, he didn’t even raise his eyes from his goblet at the sound of the loud creaking door. Lance and Hunk were walked to the centre of the room.

“You really gave us quite a show Altean.” The deep booming voice filled the room and sent a chill up Lance’s spine. “And now you have accepted my quest, you truly must be desperate for something if you’ve come out of hiding.”

“I wasn’t hiding, I just had no interest in the business of humans.” Because humans wanted nothing to do with him.

“Of course, but now that your forest is under siege you’ve decided to take action. Very predictable.” He took a sip from his goblet,

“You planned for me to come,”

“I figured it would be better to get a monster for this quest, you’re more versed in the workings of the Dark Forest.” Hunk gasped, the Dark Forest was somewhere that most creatures avoided, it had a particularly strange aura. Some said that the trees within the forest would move and it would be impossible to escape. Granted those were mostly just stories told to children. Lance had only ventured in the forest for a couple of hours before he had to turn back.

“What quest would involve passing through the dark forest?” Hunk’s voice shook. Zarkon looked up from his drink to the Balmeran.

“I need you to travel through the dark forest and find the Dragon’s Keep. Within the dragon’s keep, there is a Prince who has been locked away in the tallest tower and is guarded by a dragon. You will bring the Prince back so that we may be wed. You have one month to bring him to me. If you fail, I will enslave the whole Enchanted Forest. But if you succeed I will allow all creatures from the enchanted,” He looked to Hunk, “included the Balmerans, go free. Sound like a fair deal?”

“How do I know you’ll keep your word?” Zarkon looked to the slave stood to his left who held a cushion with a rolled up parchment tied with a purple silk ribbon.

“A contract, stamped with a royal seal, even I couldn’t break it since I’m only a Lord. I’m assuming you have a decent understanding of human politics, you don’t seem a complete fool.” Lance’s understanding of human hierarchies and customs was foggy at best, but he understood that a Lord had to obey the word of a King, so if this contract was enforced with the royal sigil Zarkon would be bound to his word. Lance read the contract as best he could through the technical terminology. It seemed pretty straightforward. “Well, do we have a deal?”

“Hand me a quill.” Lance sighed, he’d really rather not have to go on this quest, but what choice did he have. Both Lance and Zarkon signed on the dotted line and the contract was handed back to the slave.

“Well you best get going, you only have a month to complete your quest.” Hunk and Lance bowed and left the room,

 

~~~

 

“What the hell Lance, do you have a death wish.” Hunk had been nagging Lance ever since they left Lord Zarkon’s castle. They were currently in the enchanted forest, on their way to the river which separates them from the dark forest. “I mean what kind of idiot sneaks into a castle, enter a tournament and then sign a contract with a man, who definitely wants us all dead, that will force us to travel through the dark forest to slay a dragon and save some prince from a tower.”

“You know you don't have to come along if you’re scared Hunk.” Lance quipped.

“I’m not scared… and I’m not just leaving you to go alone. After all, you’re going to help free my family and I guess I’m in your debt.” Lance’s shoulders sagged, he hadn’t really thought so much about the rest of the Balmeran’s when he signed the contract as much as saving his own home. He’d never really had to think about how his actions affected anyone until himself until now and he hadn’t realised that his choice would mean so much to Hunk. Still, if he was going to embark on a fairy tale quest he should probably start making decisions more carefully, the outcome of this journey will affect the lives of hundreds within the Enchanted Forest.

Hunk sensed Lance’s tension and decided to lighten the mood, “Plus, you look like you could use some company. I’m a great travel companion,”

“Do you sing?” Hunk beamed from ear to ear before bursting out into an upbeat song which quickly had Lance humming and bouncing. This helped the time pass quickly and they were soon at the bridge to the dark forest.

“Are you ready Hunk?” “Uhh...yeah, I guess.” Lance started to cross the bridge and Hunk followed closely behind. “You don’t think the trees actually move do you Lance?”

“Of course not Hunk, that’s just scary bedtime story.” Lance reached the edge of the bridge and took one more look back to their side before looking forward and stepping onto the grass.

“Uh, it’s not so bad.” Hunk said while visibly shaking from the sudden cold. The heavy mist made it hard to see very far and the forest was eerily quiet. There were no crickets or birds or squirrels.

“We should keep going, I don’t want to risk wasting any time.” Hunk agreed and the two continued on their journey.

 

~~~

 

Lance and Hunk decided that they would rather not sing in the creepy forest for fear of attracting anything that would want to eat them. So instead they decided they would talk more about themselves. Lance enjoyed listening to Hunk talk about his family, his soft-spoken father, his caring mother who has recently been trying to get him to court the ladies, several siblings and his grandma and grandpa who would always tell him stories and taught him to cook. Hunk talked very animatedly as he told his stories.

They travelled like this through the forest for four days, trying to keep the conversation light and optimistic. But, of course, it couldn’t be that easy. The strange aura started to affect their minds, making them see and hear things that weren’t there. Both boys found they had trouble sleeping because of the fear. One night, Hunk commented how it sounded like the trees were whispering to them.

On the fourth night, Lance had a very vivid nightmare where all of the trees had faces and fangs. Lance had tried to run but the forest only kept getting darker and scarier the further he went and he was unable to get out. By the fifth day, Lance regretted agreeing to this quest and feared that he and Hunk were doomed to never get out of this cursed forest. But he kept that to himself and they kept moving in what they could only hope was the right direction.

By nightfall, Lance opted to keep watch while Hunk slept. All was calm for a few hours but then the trees started screaming, Hunk jumped up and Lance had to cover his ears.

“What’s going on?” Hunk yelled.

“I don’t know,” Suddenly the trees all simultaneously stopped, leaving an eerie silence. “Maybe it was just the wind?” something started moving, claws scraped against the roots of the trees and growling as the creatures stalked around them.

“Hunk, I don’t want to alarm you,” Lance said as he reached for his knife. “But I think we’re being hunted.” Lance tried to follow the source of the sound since it was too dark to see anything.

“Umm Lance!” Lance turned to face Hunk’s direction and over his shoulder, he saw three pairs of red eyes staring at them, “What do we do, run?” They wouldn’t make it. Before Lance could think of a better plan the beasts jumped, Lance readied his knife and stood in front of Hunk and prepared for impact. But nothing came. Lance looked up to see the wolf-like creatures trapped in the grip of tree branches which had suddenly appeared.

“What was that?” Hunk asked.

“I just saved your asses.” The boys spun around to the voice and saw a small figure leaning against the tree. They walked forward so they were able to get a better look at their face. They had short light brown hair and eyes and wore a green cape. “Name’s Pidge.” She offered her hand to shake, Lance and Hunk reluctantly shook it.

“How did you do that. You made the trees move?”

“I’m a nature spirit, I can control and influence the growth of trees and stuff.” She said nonchalantly, “Now, you two clearly aren’t from around here. What are you doing in the dark forest?” Hunk explained their quest to go save the prince from the Dragon’s Keep to bring him back for Lord Zarkon. Pidge’s eyes lit up at the sound of the quest,

“that sounds pretty challenging, you’ll need my help to get there then since you clearly have no idea where you’re going.”

“How do you know where to go?” Lance asked,

“The trees tell me, the roots interconnect them all so I’m able to access information from any tree in the forest. It’ll be pretty easy to find your prince.”

“Okay, but why do you what to help,” Lance asked, still not entirely believing his luck that this spirit would actually want to help them.

“Because I’m bored, and the trees always talk about the Dragon’s Keep and the prince. I’m pretty curious to see what all the fuss is about. Plus the trees clearly think I should help out since they alerted me to you.”

“Was that what the screaming was?” Hunk interjected.

“Yep, so... can I join your little quest?” Both boys nodded eagerly, very desperate for someone to guide them through the forest. “Awesome, we’ll get going in the morning.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Travelling with Pidge was definitely much easier, she clearly had no fear of walking through the forest and everytime the trees made strange noises she would explain it’s just the trees trying to talk to them. The trees, while creepy sounding, were surprisingly caring. Often giving directions, making sure we stopped to eat and sometimes they’d tell jokes. Pidge told us she was actually raised by the trees and how they taught her everything knows. She went into a lot of detail about how she technically doesn’t have parents since she was grown from the spiritual energy of all the trees combined.

Admittedly Lance only actually understood about a third of what she was talking about but he wasn’t going to try and question it.

Lance was, however, starting to get nervous, their first week was over and they were still in the Dark Forest. But on the seventh day, they finally reached the edge of the forest. Hunk merrily jumped out and enjoyed the sense of full sunshine again, it was warm and familiar. Pidge lingered on the edge of the forest, Lance and Hunk looked back to her.

“Are you coming?” Lance tried to encourage her. Pidge nodded and stepped into the open, squinting at the sunlight.

“How can you guys stand the noise and light? Urgh, let's just get going, it’s this way.” She took the lead again. They quickly found the Dragon’s Keep, the sky above the castle was grey and thundering and it was surrounded by a cliff which had boiling lava at the bottom. It’s actually pretty hard to miss. Lance looked up to the tallest tower which had a bright glowing light shining through the small window. Between them and the castle, there was a rickety rope bridge.

“That doesn’t look very stable,” Hunk commented as he tested the first step with a single foot. The wood cracked and snapped, luckily Lance was close enough to catch his arms and pull him back.

“How are we gonna cross?” Lance asked, unable to take his eyes away from the 50-foot drop to a fiery death.

“Well, it’s a good thing I came prepared,” Pidge said, pulling out a single leaf from her pocket.

“With a leaf, what’s that going to do? Fly in and slay the dragon?”

“No, you idiot.” She placed the leaf down on the ground before the bridge, pressed her hands on it and closed her eyes. Suddenly hundreds of thin vines sprouted from the base of the leaf, growing thicker and ran along the bridge created a support to steady the whole structure. Once the vines reached the end they wrapped around two pillars in order to secure the bridge. Pidge stood and smirked up at Lance. She waved him forward, giving a mock bow. “After you,”

“Fine, but if I die I’m going to haunt you gremlin.” Lance sighed, looked to the other side before taking the first step. The bridge was sable and didn’t even rock.

“Just don’t look down,” Pidge said while she followed behind. Hunk looked about ready to hurl up his insides but he also followed with a white-knuckled grip on the ropes. The lava beneath them bubbled and hissed and made them sweat from the radiating heat but they eventually made it to the other side.

“Okay, so now we just have to slay the dragon and get the prince.” Hunk gasped as he leant on the pillar to support himself.

“Okay, but where is the dragon?” Pidge asked, even she was nervous, her voice became hushed and breathy. She had a point though, you’d think a ferocious fire-breathing reptile would be easy to spot.

“For now let’s not worry about that and just try to find some stairs to the tower.” Lance grabbed a sword he found on the floor next to the body of what must have been an unlucky knight, his armour was burnt and Lance opted against taking off his helmet.

“Well, that’s encouraging.” Pidge grimaced at the dead man.

 

~~~

 

The trio tiptoed through the barren halls of the castle, the walls were all charred and many were knocked down completely and there were several dead knights scattered through the corridors. They eventually made it to a grand archway which took them to a large open courtyard in the centre of the castle. In the center, there was a broken waterfall surrounded by dead bushes. At the other end of the courtyard there was another large archway, but as they walked closer they noticed that underneath the entrance there was a girl lying unconscious, clothed in rags but somehow still alive.

“Is she okay,” Hunk ran up to her and tried to wake her up. The girl had dark skin and was tall, probably taller that Hunk, she had broad shoulders with a fuller figure and short hair. Lance and Pidge followed and took a look at the girl, “She’s still breathing,”  
Suddenly her eyes sprung open and she grabbed Hunks hand and sat up. “Leave this place,” She cried pushing Hunk away.

“Who are you?” Pidge tried to speak calmly.

“You don’t understand. You need to leave! The Curse… it’s…” She screamed as she grew several feet tall, her hands became talons, she grew a tail and sharp teeth.

“Leave!” She shouted a final time before she was no longer recognisable as human. The skin on her back tore and grew into wings and her skin became red and scaled. Her nose stretched into a snout and her eyes turned yellow, the pupils becoming slits. The screaming stopped and the dragon let out a mighty roar before stomping of the ground and growling at Hunk.

“What do we do now?” Hunk yelled,

“Scatter!” Pidge commanded. Lance and Hunk ran in opposite directions and Pidge leapt for the scorched pushes. They all hid behind a piece of rubble as the dragon spewed her first breath of fire. When she stopped and her attention was diverted to Pidge, who was twisting the branches as best she could around the dragon’s legs. But the dragon easily snapped the ensnarement. Lance took the opportunity to sneak up behind her and jump on her back and lift his sword to strike. The dragon saw the glint of the weapon, roared and spun around to knock lance of, biting back to try and reach him.

Lance held strong but unfortunately dropped his sword in favour of hanging on.  
The dragon looked back at him and just as she was about to eat him she let out another deafening shriek. Lance looked down and saw Hunk with the sword stabbed through the dragon’s foot. She thrashed her tail and slammed Hunk against the wall, the sheer force of the hit knocked Lance down until he was gripping her tail. She flung him through the air until he landed on the other end of the courtyard.

“Lance, go find the prince so we can get out of here!” Hunk shouted, clutching at his stomach.

“What about you?”

“We’ll keep her busy,” Pidge yelled as she tried the vine thing again. Lance looked forward to the beginning of the stairs for the tower and then back at his friends in peril. Lance sighed and rushed for the stairs.

He ran up the stairs until his legs ache and his breath was short and laboured. He had to pause for breath several times and he looked up and there were still the seemingly never-ending the spiral of stairs. He huffed and kept running.

He finally reached the door and stopped to catch his breath. He looked at the door and debated whether he should knock, that would be the polite thing to do. Then again, he had just fought a dragon for this guy, this is not a time for manners. He turned the handle and ran into the room.

It seemed bigger on the inside, with a mirror on the far end behind a table which had an empty plate and goblet, a window and bookcase to the left and a bed with a curtain on the right. There were books and clothes strewn across the floor. Everything was simple and plain aside from the mirror which was gold framed.

Lance walked reluctantly to the bed, much more cautious now that he had just seen a girl turn into a dragon. “Hello? Prince?” No response, Lance sighed and pulled back the deep red curtain covering the bed.

His breath hitched. The prince was sleeping on his side, his dark hair falling over his soft well-structured face. He was about the same height as Lance, maybe a little shorter. He was thin with narrow hips and decently broad shoulders. Lance would admit he was pretty attractive, just not in the way he imagined him to be. He seemed young and had a more feminine charm.

He reached to shake his shoulders, “Your Highness?” The boy gasped and pulled a knife out from under his pillow, he swung it at Lance’s neck and stopped barely before making contact.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The prince snarled at him, his violet gaze burning with fury under furrowed brows. All signs of soft delicacy gone and replaced with murderous intent.

“Umm… I’m Lance, I’m here to...save you,” The prince’s angry look melted into sheepish embarrassment.

“Oh, I apologise Lance.”

“No don’t worry, I find I too can’t start my day without trying to kill someone.” Lance snarks. The prince’s brows furrowed in confusion, not comprehending the sarcasm. Lance shook his head and grabbed the man’s hand. “Never mind, we have to get going.”

“Wait, but this is our first meeting, shouldn’t we talk and get to know each other.”

“We really don’t have time.” Lance dragged the prince from his bed to the door.

“We’re going down the stairs? Aren’t you supposed to sweep me off my feet, out the window and down a rope onto your valiant steed?”

“You’ve had a lot of time to plan this haven’t you.” The prince nodded, looking down to their inter-linked hands.

“Surely we should savour this moment, why should we rush” He stepped back into his room a little but Lance was able to pull him until they were running at full speed down the stairs. “Hey, why are we running? You’re not going to recite a poem, a sonnet, not even a haiku?”

“Look Princey,” Keith stopped abruptly on the stairs, pulling Lance to a holt.

“Keith! My name is Keith, which you would know if you just stopped to talk for a minute.”

“Look, Keith,” Suddenly the dragon roared. Keith’s eyes went wide and he turned to face Lance.

“YOU DIDN’T SLAY THE DRAGON?!”

“It’s on my to-do list! Now let’s go.” Lance continued to run down the stairs and Keith followed after him. Once they made it to the courtyard there was no one there. Lance let go of Keith and frantically ran around trying to find any sign of Hunk or Pidge in hiding shouting their names. He was so frantic he didn’t notice Keith walk up to him until he placed a hand on his back.

“They’ll have been taken to the treasury, follow me.” Lance was now following Keith around a series of several turns through corridors until Lance heard the unmistakable sound of Hunk’s singing. The two made their way into a massive room with piles of gold all over the floor. In the centre was the dragon avidly focussed on Hunk, who was sitting on her tail singing to her.

“Oh good, you’ve finally made it.” Lance turned to see Pidge sitting quietly behind a statue hugging her legs, “And you found the Prince.”

“What the hell happened? Wasn’t she just trying to kill us?” Lance whispered as he and Keith knelt in front of her out of sight of the dragon.

“Honestly, I’m not sure, I guess when the dragon was about to eat Hunk he just started singing and it serenaded her.”

“Of course he did!” Lance laughed as he looked up to see Hunk beaming happily as he sang one of his Balmeran songs to a ferocious beast which had just tried to eat him. If there was one person he’d believe could solve their problems through singing, it would be Hunk. “But how are we gonna get out? Surely she’ll get all cranky again when she sees us trying to leave.”

“So just to be clear,” Keith chipped in, “We’re not slaying the dragon?” His voice was sharp and judgemental as he looked dubiously at Lance.

“No. It would be easier to just run. Why? Does that contradict with how you envisioned your rescue?” Lance sneered, a little fed up with the Prince’s attitude. Keith crossed his arms, his frustration and anger back. He certainly had a foul temper for a prince.

“Oh, and what if the dragon follows us, Genius? After all, she can fly.”

“Unless we somehow trap her.” Pidge interfered before Lance could think of a comeback to the prince’s mockery. Her eyes filtered around the room scanning for anything that could be of use until they landed on the chandelier hanging from a chain on the ceiling. “I have an idea.”

 

~~~

 

Lance hated this idea. He scaled the wall using the nooks and crannies for grip until he reached the ceiling. Beneath him, the dragon was still intently focussed on Hunk. Lance sighed, looked up at the chandelier and readied himself to jump. He looked to Pidge and Keith already in their positions.

Lance jumped and grabbed the chandelier catching the attention of the dragon. As the dragon lunged up to reach Lance, he pulled the chandelier down over her head, collaring her and chaining her to the ceiling. Lance jumped, sliding down the dragon’s back and grabbed Hunk as they ducked for cover. She roared, spraying flames all around as she thrashed and struggled to remove the collar. Lance looked to Keith again and nodded, signalling for him to move.

Lance watched intently as he jumped out of his hiding place and grabbed the attention of the beast,

“Hey, over here” Her head snapped towards him, she shrieked and leapt to grab him. Luckily, Keith was surprisingly fast considering his constrictive attire. He ran through the halls into the main room, leading the dragon; Lance and Hunk followed at a safe distance. Once they reached the main room, Keith weaved through the pillars causing the dragon to chase and get tangled by her chain until she could no longer run any further.

Keith ran back to where he spotted Lance and Hunk and hid with them. His breath was heavy and laboured but when he turned to Lance he was smiling widely as if this was the most exciting day of his life.

“Your turn pretty-boy.” Lance ignored the skip his heart made at the nickname and focussed on his task.

He sprinted up behind the dragon and leapt onto her back. He gripped tightly to the collar as he climbed up her neck. She closed her mouth in preparation for a mighty roar, but before she could open her jaw Lance jumped onto her snout and wrapped his legs around it, keep it shut. The force of his jump forced the dragon to drop her head to the floor. Pidge came forward and did her magic, vine-growing thing. Sprouting foliage around her jaw and neck, pinning her to the ground.

She growled, glaring intently and both Pidge and Lance. She raised her wings, extending them, ready to rip away from the trap. Lance and Pidge looked at each other in fear knowing that if she got airborne they didn’t stand a chance to defeat her.  
Just as she was about to take off Hunk crawled onto her back and tackled her wings closed and pulled them down to the ground.

“PIDGE!” He shouted. She stepped in, finally rendering the dragon helpless. She struggled for a moment before giving up and letting out a whimpering cry. Hunk stepped up to her snout and placed his hand onto her nose. She looked up at him with a look of betrayal, her lips pouting and her eyes sad and scared.

“I’m so sorry, we’re not going to hurt you, I promise.” Hunk assured, trying to soothe her. “How long will she be trapped?” Hunk directed his question to Pidge but never looked away from the dragon.

“Less than a day, but it should be enough time to get some good distance from the here.” Hunk nodded and whispered something for only the dragon to hear and then slid his hand away from her as they all turned to leave. The dragon cried and Hunk looked like he was about to burst into tears as well. Lance placed his hand on Hunk’s back and guided him away.

They all made it to the bridge and Keith was beaming from ear-to-ear and eagerly ran across first, followed by Pidge and Hunk being pushed across by Lance. They gave one final look back to the castle before turning away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally met Keith, yay :) I feel like I need to make the scenes longer and more detailed. Let me know your thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you think. Note that this is just a first draft and I plan to go back to edit so any and all feedback is appreciated.


End file.
